The Chronicles Of Mac & Stella
by Tricki
Summary: What have Mac & Stella gone through to be together? A story stepping through their relationship. Sorry I'm REALLY bad at summaries! MSR 4eva!
1. Sin

**AN: O**kay I hope you all like this, as usual it's Mac & Stella. I tried to keep them in character but I'm not sure I succeeded! Any mistakes are my bad.

Lots of love to Mandi (Best friend a girl could have half way across the world, Chapter 6 is all for you : ) Kitty (My dear twin), Steeldust, Spaceape and everyone who has read/ reviewed my stories (I'll put all your names in my next one I swear!) and Laura, hope it's long enough and I'm glad you liked the last one!

Enjoy,

Love Tricki :0) xoxox

**Chapter 1 **

**Sin**

"When the shirt came off it was all in time

When an M.M.M. minute turned into a mile

And you got all turned on by the taste of your sin"

The Used, Sound Effects & Overdramatics

He was her sin and she was his but they wouldn't stop, nor did they care. They were in love and wether he was married or not they were going to be together.

He had tried so hard so many times to save his marriage but after the third affair he gave up and decided to go after what he had wanted for years, Stella.

Speaking very technically they were in the wrong but Claire had cheated on him four times just for the sake of cheating, he wasn't 'Screwing Around', he was making love to the woman he was meant to be with and unfortunately for his wife it wasn't her, it was his partner - he didn't really care though, they got married on a whim and infatuation fades. At first Claire thought this was just revenge for her affairs but that was before she saw them together at work. They weren't doing anything, weren't acting like anything but friends, they were just laughing and smiling and looking happy….happy in a way that she had never made him. That day dislike turned to jealousy and detest.

He and Claire had good memories but they both knew they wouldn't last as a couple anymore. They might stay friends, they had the type of personalities that could do that, but there was the "small" issue of her hating Stella. She would have taken this much better if he wasn't in love with a woman she had always detested.

This whole situation originally had made Stella feel uncomfortable and guilty.

She was always the cheated not the cheater and she felt guilty for inflicting that on someone else but on the other hand Claire made Mac miserable and she loved Mac. If only for his sake she needed to be there for him but for her own too, she had never felt loved like this and she wasn't going to give that up for some frigid cow who she had never liked.

He ran his hand down Stella's side and told her how much he loved her. "I love you"s and "I need you"s passed through the air between them with every spare breath they had as well as the almost silent whisper of each other's names. There was never an "I want you" that passed either of their lips. They were more than primal want, they simply needed each other.

He kissed her like he had had to run a hundred miles just to touch her(Which he would have gladly done) and more "I love you"s were exchanged while they caught their breath.

He took her in his arms gently and whispered about the life they would have until she fell asleep. He didn't leave her, he never did.

In the beginning Stella had objected to this, she said that as much as she wanted to wake up beside him, Claire would worry and that wasn't fair. He had smiled to himself, she didn't like Claire but she was still looking out for her.

"If I wasn't here I'd be at work." Stella had thought it over and conceded. She was always at him to go home and he never did, she might as well gain something from him avoiding his wife. That was the end of that debate.

He told her he loved her one more time and went to sleep.

The only time he slept well was when he was holding her or dreaming of holding her.


	2. Le Divorce

**Chapter 2**

**Le Divorce**

"He got bad but she got mad,

he lowered her one more time

and she got even"

Matchbox Twenty, Loss, Strain & Butterflies

"What the hell are you doing?" Stella laughed as Mac lifted her off the ground and spun her around.

"Claire wants a divorce!" He said gleefully.

"What?" Her face sunk slightly and he put her back on the ground.

"She said if I loved you so much then she didn't want to be with me and she'd found someone new and… Yeah." He grinned. (That was the cleaned up version, what she said was more like "I guess you love your god damn whore and that's just _FINE _with me! I've got someone on the side too so just piss off already.")

"And you're okay with this?"

"If I think about it I feel like I've failed, I've always thought marriages were worth working at but I want to be with you."

"Are you sure?" She asked quietly as the insecure part of her trembled while waiting for the answer.

"Stella, I love you." He said and kissed her reassuringly.

"I love you too."

"Celebration tonight? Dinner at your place."

"No." Stella said firmly.

"Why not?" He asked and his face fell.

"Mac right now she has no proof of us. You could lose everything if she finds some. I mean how do you know that she hasn't got someone following us right now? Until the ink is dry you and I are best friends and nothing more…" She said it even though everything in her was telling her to give in, that he was already _technically_ hers so she might as well celebrate with him but the logical part that said in a matter of weeks he would be _all_ hers so she might as well wait and not get them into trouble won.

In fact, now that she thought about it, that little voice _always _won.

_Damn you, little voice. _She thought angrily.


	3. That Day

**Chapter 3**

**That Day**

"That day, that day,

What a mess, what a marvellous mess….."

Natalie Imbruglia, That Day

"What the hell do you want from me Claire?" He said angrily. "One minute you hand me divorce papers and the next _you _wont sign them!"

"I just don't know anymore! I thought maybe you might think our marriage is worth saving!" She screamed.

"What do you want me to say?" He asked quietly.

"If you don't know then I don't want you to say anything. I want you to go off with your whore and have a nice life. Ben treats me better than you ever did anyway." She hissed.

"So I guess you'll sign the papers when you get home, will you Claire? Honey?" He yelled after her before she slammed the door behind herself. That was the last thing he ever said to her while she was conscious.

"Stella" He said croakily.

"I know baby, I'm on my way." She said and pressed her foot onto the accelerator a little harder.

One thing she had always respected about their relationship was their ability to change it at the drop of a hat. When they were lovers they were still best friends but right now his wife was dying and they were best friends, nothing more and certainly never anything less.

There would be no time spent worrying about their own relationship because he needed her, and when she heard that tone in his voice, that desperate pleading tone that was his way of saying 'jump' she didn't ask why, she asked how far and how many times.

"What should I say to her?" He asked, puffy eyed and raspy voiced.

"Tell her you love her." Stella said quietly with a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I…I'm not…." He gave up and shook his head.

"Tell her about all the good times. Tell her how grateful you are for them and how she changed you." He nodded and swallowed as his eyes brimmed with tears and he blinked them back fiercely.

"Oh, Mac." She whispered and hugged his head to her body.

"I'm going to get you some coffee." She kissed the top of his head and walked to the door.

"Talk to her okay? She needs to hear that you're not going to leave it on bad terms." She said and walked out the door.

When they were really stuck on a case they said they were caught in the Twilight. Right now Stella had the sickening feeling that they were going to be caught in the longest Twilight of their lives but she was damned if she wasn't going to be fumbling around for the answer half blind with him.


	4. Angels

**Chapter 4**

**Angels**

"And it's one foot then the other as you step out on the road. Then it's how long and how far and how many times before it's too late…

Calling all angels. Calling all angels. Walk me through this one, don't leave me alone."

Jane Siberry and K.D. Lang, Calling All Angels.

"I keep thinking maybe she wouldn't have gone to work if we hadn't had a fight."

"You can't do that to yourself." She said as she picked up another dirty dish. "Besides, she loved her job and she never didn't go just for the sake of it, did she?" He nodded in concession and felt a little better (But not much).

The funeral was two weeks ago and he still hadn't cleaned up from the remembrance ceremony/ wake that they had at his house afterwards. He was so intent on doing it even though he was in no fit state to hear how lovely his wife was because he had convinced himself it was true.

"She deserved better than me." He said forlornly. Stella lost her cool, she was sick of all this 'Saint Claire' crap.

"Mac just shove it! You were getting a divorce! No one deserved to die like that but she didn't deserve you. She should have treated you well and not cheated on you, _then _I'd buy all this talk about how great she was. Aside from that you have to stop belittling yourself, you're both just human and that's why you fell in love in the first place." Mac looked at his partner and thought about what she had said. She was right (as usual). They weren't happy.

"Do you think I tried hard enough?" He asked in a voice so tiny she almost didn't recognise it.

"I think you tried as hard as anyone humanly could." She put the plates she was carrying and wrapped him in her arms. They sunk to the floor and leaned against the front of the couch and for the first time he really cried.

"It's okay." She whispered and kissed his head softly. "I'm here."

They both knew that in a long time nothing truer had been said. She would be there for him at all costs and he loved her even more for that.

She was his angel, the only person willing to walk his dark paths with him.


	5. A Few Small Repairs

**Chapter 5**

**A Few Small Repairs**

"I might need you to hold me tonight.

I might need you to say it's alright.

I might need you to make the first step

because tonight I'm finding it hard to be your man"

Savage Garden, Hold Me

"You're not wearing a tie." She smiled.

"Yeah, I though it was time I loosened up." He replied. "Do you want to have dinner with me tonight? I'll make you your favourite." A knowing smile passed Stella's lips.

Her Mac was back.

"I'd like that." She said quietly.

"I would too." He smiled gently.

"You have to go easy on me tonight, Stel." He said from the kitchen.

"I know. " She said and hung over the counter.

"Taste." He said and held a wooden spoon in front of her face.

"It's good." She smiled. "But then again it always was."

"I've missed doing this."

"Me too." Stella walked into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around him. He kissed the side of her head gently.

"I know I haven't said this in a while but I love you." He whispered into her ear.

"And you're telling me to go slow?" She laughed. "I love you too."

She stepped back and shot a glace at the stove with her eyebrow raised.

"Oh right!" He said when he caught her gaze and returned to cooking.

"Perfect as usual." She said as she put her bowl on the coffee table in front of them. She had always marvelled at how, when she was him, dinner on the couch in front of the TV with a candle on the coffee table seemed like heaven.

It was just Spaghetti Bolognese and Meatballs and they were just in their work clothes at his apartment and they were still just Stella and Mac but it was still perfect and more importantly: _they _were still perfect.

"Well you know what they say, food replicates the person it's made for." He said and took their bowls to the kitchen.

"I've never heard that before." She smiled as he lay on the couch next to her. Stella lay on Mac's chest and he began to play with her hair.

"I'm not sure I'm any good at this anymore." He whispered.

"You don't have to be." She kissed his hand softly and closed her eyes.

"Stel?" She nodded and waited for him to continue without opening her eyes. "The only time I sleep well is when I'm near you."

"Well then I hope you start sleeping consistently well from now on." She said sleepily.

"I do too." He kissed her neck.

"I love you." He said softly and ran his hand down her side as he had done so many times before.

"I love you too." She murmured before she fell into a deep sleep.

He was desperately uncomfortable, the couch wasn't long enough for him to sleep straight, but he couldn't bare the thought of moving and ultimately waking her. Despite his neck already beginning to hurt he slept better than he had in years.


	6. Past, Present & Future

**Chapter 6**

**Past, Present & Future**

"What are you doing the rest of your life?

Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall of you life?

I have only one request of your life:

That you spend it all with me…"

Barbra Streisand, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?

"Happy first anniversary." Stella toasted them.

"Happy anniversary." They sat in silence and studied each other for a minute.

"Can you believe it's been one year?" He asked eventually with a sly grin on his face.

"I can't believe it hasn't been more." She laughed and leaned back against her chair.

"Well it kind of is if you count…everything." He shrugged.

"I guess so." She smiled and sipped her champagne. She looked around the restaurant that was the only fancy restaurant they ever went to together and turned a thoughtful glance on him.

"Do you think this'll be one of the things we always remember?"

"I hope so." He paused in thought "Stel, can we not have a ritual?"

"What do you mean by that?" She laughed and raised her eyebrow in a way that made him fall in love with her all over again.

"I think we should do something different each anniversary, that's all."

"That's very romantic of you Mr Taylor." She said affectionately.

"I have a good reason to be."

"Wanna dance?" Mac asked as Barbra Streisand began to sing 'What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?'. Stella's face lit up as Mac pulled her out of her seat.

"I'm not sure I got this song until I met you." She said thoughtfully as they rotated slowly across the dance floor.

"I know how you feel." He kissed her hair softly.

"I'd love her to do a duet of this song with Celine Dion." Stella laughed and stared at him in amusement.

"Is that the kind of thing you think about?"

"No. I just like Celine Dion." He said innocently.

"Okay." She said quietly and rested her head back on his shoulder contently.

"That actually would be a good duet." She smiled against his neck and a victorious smile stretched across his lips.

"Mac?" She asked quietly after a minutes' silence.

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing the rest of your life?"

"I'm spending it with the woman I love."

"Good answer." She smiled and kissed him.

"Happy anniversary." She said.

"And many more to come." He smiled and she laughed gleefully as he dipped her to a song that didn't quite fit being dipped to on their first anniversary.


	7. Need

-1**Chapter 7**

**Need**

"When the shirt came off it was all in time

When an M.M.M. minute turned into a mile

And you got all turned on by the taste of your sin"

The Used, Sound Effects & Overdramatics

He kissed her like he was trying to breathe life into her and whispered that he loved her. She shivered involuntarily and said she loved him too. It always amazed both of them how much they needed each other, neither of them were sure how they survived so long without each other.

There was something oddly sinful about them even though they weren't doing anything wrong anymore.

With every spare breath "I love you"s and "I need you"s were exchanged as well as the desperate murmuring of each other's names.

She still remembers feeling alive for the first time the first time he touched her and he still remembers falling in love at first sight, craving her being near him. Even now, with no further wars to fight to be together, nothing felt routine with them.

With them forever seemed like not nearly enough time to understand all of each other, eternity seem nowhere near enough time to share every kiss and smile that needed to be shared but today…….today seemed just long enough for everything and tomorrow seemed perfect, as long as they were together.

He folded her safely in his arms and kissed her neck softly while he whispered "I love you"s and "I need you"s and told her how lucky he was to have her, how glad he was that he met her and how he knew he couldn't live without her

"Because I know that part of me, most of me, would die without you…. You make me whole, Stella. I love you so much. Thankyou for being mine"

He nuzzled into her neck and held her tightly.

He smiled to himself, the only time he slept well was wen he was holding her and he had the sneaking suspicion that he would be sleeping well for the rest of his life.


End file.
